Supporting Emerging Designers

Hello friends! I’m excited to share with you a great boutique I stumbled upon on my last trip to NYC. Flying Solo is a collective of emerging designers who work and sell their incredibly well designed, mostly made-in-NYC goods at this Mulberry Street store located near Little Italy. I was immediately drawn to the high fashion aesthetics, and even better was their reasonable price tags for the quality and design. I wanted to take half the store home with me – but ultimately decided on pieces by Ukranian designer Andreeva, and Project Runway contestant Layana Aguilar.

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This incredibly intricate, hand-knit “top” by Andreeva is actually a dress/cardigan, and I’m completely obsessed with all the different textures, fabric and materials used on this one piece. I paired this with a high-low Layana Aguilar skirt made out of a comfortable, yet heavy material. This skirt was in the window display at Flying Solo, and at one glance I was intrigued, and just had to go check out the store. Good thing I did, and it’s all thanks to this skirt! I also selected another Layana Aguilar top, and I can’t wait to show you that, as well as the full Andreeva dress/cardigan, at future posts.

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I wore this ensemble to the the Washingtonian Magazine Style Setters issue celebration, and it granted me the award as one of the “Best Dressed” for the evening (thank you!). Here I am with Washingtonian Magazine Wedding and Fashion editor Sarah Zlotnick, and the fabulous FLOTUS Michelle Obama’s make-up artist, Carl Ray (photo by Joy Asico).